Mumbai Indians slam Karthik indirectly for refusing a single: The IPL franchise took an indirect jibe at the Indian wicket-keeper batsman.
During the third T20I of the ongoing India’s tour of New Zealand at Hamilton, India middle-order batsman Dinesh Karthik’s confidence in his abilities led him to deny India all-rounder Krunal Pandya a single in the last over of the match.
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Chasing a mammoth 213-run target in the deciding T20I, India ended up scoring 208-6 in 20 overs. It was a 63-run unbeaten partnership for the seventh wicket between Dinesh Karthik (33) and Krunal Pandya (26) which saw India stay alive in the game till the last three balls of the match.
India required 16 runs off the last six balls to win the match. Having scored a couple of runs in as many balls, the pressure was on Karthik to unleash a boundary. With him hitting the ball to long-on and refusing a single on the following delivery, it invited a lot of criticism for there was a set batsman in Krunal Pandya at the other end.
Lot of talk about Karthik turning down the single like Dhoni used to. He was in great touch, was backing himself. In the heat of the moment you do things by instinct. He will realise he should have taken it given Pandya was hitting well. Not sure would’ve made a difference though
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 10, 2019
Brilliant hitting by DK but small mistakes have a big effect on the result in T20s. Was a mistake to not take that single with Krunal at the other end.#IndVsNZ
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 10, 2019
Given the fact that Karthik has successfully finished matches for India in the recent past, it must have given him the thought of being able to seal another tense chase for his team. With him not being able to do the same, there was a lot of support for Krunal Pandya who played only one delivery in the last over.
Mumbai Indians, Krunal Pandya’s IPL franchise, didn’t seem to particularly like the idea of the Kolkata Knight Riders captain denying their all-rounder of strike. Post the match, Indians took to Twitter to express their opinion about the same.
.@krunalpandya24 26 not-out from 13 balls and got to face only 1 ball in the final over. 🤷🏻♂🤔
Hard luck, KP! 💙#CricketMeriJaan #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/BVm2HmDguA
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) February 10, 2019
